Cruel World (2005)

the audience applauded

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Philip (Edward Furlong) is a reality show loser who decides to set up his own reality show with nine contestants who will be killed off one at a time. Fairly standard stuff. Edward Furlong brings an added dimension to the feature, but not enough to save a mediocre script. Available on DVD multi-packs. Guide: F-word. Brief sex. No nudity

The formula for Horror is very simple. Outrageous characters, creepy music, blood, and lots of beautiful people, but Cruel World is one of those rare Horror films that actually has a story worth telling. After being scorned on a reality dating show, Philip Markham (Edward Furlong) has decided to create his own show. A fear factor type competition with a one million dollar reward. The only problem is when you lose the game, you lose your life, a stipulation the contestants weren't previously aware of. This was a fun film for me, because not only is it original, but it has a cast full of seldom seen 90s teen idols. My regular readers know by now that I consider Edward Furlong to be one of the hardest working, most under appreciated actors in all of Hollywood, but to be honest, he wasn't anything special in this film. Furlong's character is one of those evil geniuses that really seems to be all bark and no bite. The true stars of this film are the lesser known contestants like, Andrew Keegan and Sanoe Lake. The contestants are all oblivious and watching them trying to figure things out under the guise of winning a competition was really clever. The contestants and the competitions are really what helps to distinguish this film from all the other slash films. While including the four elements, and finding a lot of reasons for the pretty people to take their cloths off, there is actually a better than average story here and an experienced cast. The combination of the two make this film much more entertaining than the slasher films you've become accustom to. While I was disappointed in the fact that Edward Furlong couldn't carry this film in the way I've become accustom to seeing, there were still plenty of great performances and exciting moments. If you're a big Horror fan like I am, and you're looking for something a little bit different, give Cruel World a try.

This film is a rare gem! It's b-grade horror exactly how it should be done! The fact that a bunch of celebrity wannabes would do whatever an all-powerful voice told them to do is DEFINITELY believable and the young Jaime Pressly (from My Name is Earl fame) is a sight to behold! Edward Furlong plays the role of a deranged killer perfectly and as the story unfolds you may even find yourself sympathizing with him just a little bit... (awwwwwwwww) This is not your typical horror flick - you'll have no idea who will and won't survive! It's no Terminator II but then again there isn't nearly as much money behind it so give the small guys a go and check this one out!Plenty of gore for the sickos out there and plenty of tense moments for suspense fans and well made film for the budget - horror fans look no further than CRUEL WORLD

Two brothers somehow sucker a bunch of young people into believing they're part of a reality game show in which they do whatever challenge the mastermind comes up with. Eventually it becomes apparent that the stakes are life and death, and the contestants start getting killed off, sometimes by each other.Perhaps the craziest part of this movie is Edward Furlong as the lead, Philip Markham, who overacts at every turn as he screams at the contestants from his control room, where he chain smokes and eats gas station food. His performance is not one of his finest, but given that he appears to be past his prime at this point, he does deliver something that is, at very least, entertaining (not always for the right reasons, though).As others have pointed out, Markham is a fairly lazy killer. Mostly he just yells a lot. It is often up to his simpleton brother, Claude, to carry out the dirty work for him.The big question is whether or not the flick is worth seeing. Well, for me, the movie came with four others in a small package that was located at the bottom of a bargain bin. Given what I paid for it, it wasn't too bad.